Tinashe has no idea why the zeitgeist has kept her in a “niche category” for more than a decade. The singer who broke big this year with the slow-bubble rise of her ear worm single “Nasty” — her first solo Billboard Hot 100 entry, which peaked at No. 61 in June — tells pal Kaytranada in a chat in Interview magazine that she now feels like she’s in a great position to break big during a summer when the women of pop are all over the charts.
“I have fans that love me, I’m able to tour, I’m able to make the art I want to make. So I’m pretty satisfied,” said 31-year-old Tinashe, who began her career as s child actress in the early 2000s before pivoting to music with her 2012 mixtape In Case We Die. “As much as I want all the success and the accolades, I have such a great career, so I’m thankful. But I don’t know why [it’s taken so long]. It could be the universe. It could be the way society’s set up. Being a Black woman in music is difficult. There’s been a lot of discrepancy over how to market me. In my early days, people were confused by my genre hopping and my lack of commitment to an urban direction.”
With the Hot 100 chart packed with summer smashes from Billie Eilish (“Birds of a Feather”), Sabrina Carpenter (“Espresso,” “Please Please Please”), Chappell Roan (“Good Luck, Babe,” “Hot To Go”) and Charli XCX (“Guess” remix with Eilish), Kat asked a very crucial question: “are pop-girl rivalries a real thing?”
Tinashe said yes, but also no. At least not for her.
“Absolutely. I don’t have any rivalries. I love all the girls. But it’s classic. It’s an extremely competitive place to be in the music industry as a woman, because we’re taught that there aren’t enough seats at the table for everyone, so that creates a lot of competition,” she said. “There’s a lot of sneaky animosity, little things behind the scenes, people not supporting each other the same way that maybe male artists do. I’ve definitely felt that way over the years.”
Asked if seeing the successes and failures of other artists sometimes gets in her head, Tinashe said when she was younger and newer to the game it definitely had more of an effect on her. “Because part of the human condition is that we tend to compare ourselves to other people. And so, when you see the success of people that you consider peers, sometimes it can be hard,” she said. “I’ve definitely gone through eras where I’ve felt like, ‘Damn. Everyone who I consider peers are killing me off right now. Everyone’s doing so much better than me.’ So it’s a practice to not compare myself and focus on my own path.”
Plus, after a decade of grinding in the music business and releasing seven albums — including this year’s Quantum Baby — some of that pressure to look around and compare has gone away thanks to a legacy of work she can be proud of. “I feel like my work speaks for itself,” she said.
The pair also delved into whether Tinashe believes the myth of industry plants is a real thing. The answer again was yes — some people are “gassed the f–k up by the machine,” — but also no to the “full plant narrative” in the talk that also touched on the items on Tinashe’s tour rider and her wish list of A-list collaborators.
“My big bucket list items are, like, André 3000 — that would be a dream. Janet [Jackson], of course. James Blake, SZA, I think we could make something really amazing,” she said. “Rosalía, I think we’d make something really dope together. I like to collab with the girls. There’s not very many collabs with female artists, so I definitely want to do more of those.”
And finally, because of course he had to ask, is there anyone who matches Tinashe’s freak?
“I don’t know who matches my freak. Honestly, when it comes to romance and stuff like that, nobody,” she said to the likely disappointment of potential freakmates. “I’m out here dolo as f–k, doing my own thing. I’m having a fun-ass summer though, so I’m not mad in that regard.”
In a sweet second consideration, though, Tinashe said if pressed she’d have to say that her loyal fans match her freak. “They have been so supportive of this era and have been there for me throughout the highs and lows,” the singer said. “I just really, really appreciate everyone who’s held me down throughout every chapter of my career, because I wouldn’t be here without that support.”
Tinashe announced the dates for her Match My Freak tour earlier this month, a 23-date outing slated to kick off on Oct. 14 at the House of Blues in Anaheim, Calif. before winding down in Sacramento on Nov. 25.
